Call for new leader sparked boycott of classes backed by East Palo Alto’s mayor

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Attendees hold up signs asking that the Ravendwood City School District board of trustees not renew Superintendent Gloria Hernandez-Goff’s contract during a meeting Thursday, April 27, 2018, inside the Costano Elementary School gymnasium. (Kevin Kelly / Daily News)

EAST PALO ALTO — Despite opposition by students and the mayor, the Ravenswood City School Board has renewed Superintendent Gloria Hernandez-Goff’s contract for two more years.

Trustees voted 3-1 to renew the superintendent’s contract through June 30, 2020, increasing her salary from roughly $181,000 to $192,814, effective July 1. Board clerk Marielena Gaona-Mendoza voted against the proposal and board member Marcelino Lopez was out sick.

More than 100 community members attended a meeting inside Costano Elementary School’s gymnasium in East Palo Alto, cheering on as speakers told board members that the district needs a new leader who will serve their interests, not her own.

Hernandez-Goff responded to criticism by reading from a statement she released Wednesday.

“For months, I have stood silent as those who oppose my decision-making have provided you with countless news stories based on lies on top of lies for the sole purpose of seeking to destabilize our district as a way to punish me for implementing necessary reforms,” she said. “As hurtful as their words have been at times, I have always been guided by the idea that my only objective is to serve the children in the community.”

Hernandez-Goff’s leadership has been the subject of much turmoil in the district, with about 40 percent of students boycotting classes at Belle Haven Elementary in March to protest her removal of Todd Gaviglio as principal. She reassigned him to the district office. The Ravenswood Teachers Association, the teachers union, has been calling for Hernandez-Goff’s removal since last April.

East Palo Alto Mayor Ruben Abrica, who did not attend the meeting, sent a letter calling for the superintendent’s contract to not be renewed.

“At this crucial time, the governing majority on the Board needs to put the interest of the children’s education first, not the financial and political interests of Gloria Hernandez-Goff,” Abrica wrote.

“We are all here to serve the people of this community and yet no one is listening to what the community wants,” Maria Chavez, a Ravenswood staff member, said at the meeting. “When the superintendent was hired in 2013, she made a promise that she would unify the community, and the exact opposite of that promise has happened.”

They also accuse Hernandez-Goff of mismanaging finances and called for an independent audit.

“You cannot in good conscience renew Gloria’s contract with that ludicrous raise when you have custodians who have been cut, you’ve got vice principals who have been cut, we’re supposedly in a financial crisis,” said Costano Elementary teacher Jesusita Rivera, noting that the terms of board President Ana Maria Pulido and trustees Lopez and Charlie Knight expire in November.

Defending her vote, Vice President Sharifa Wilson said that Hernandez-Goff has demonstrated she’s is an effective leader by freeing the district from constraints of a court-ordered special education decree, creating a comprehensive middle school to better prepare students for high school, building partnerships and ramping up technology offerings.

“When I came onto the board seven years ago, we barely had any technology or parent participation, but since Gloria, there have been significant improvements,” Wilson said.

She accused attendees of spreading lies about Hernandez-Goff and wanting to change superintendents on a “whim.”

“If we were not to renew this contract, it would throw this district into chaos,” Wilson said.

Nicole Sullivan, a teacher in the district, said the roughly 6 percent increase illustrates otherwise.

“If you really want to help the students, don’t increase her salary, start listening to us and visit the schools and see how dedicated we are to our students,” Sullivan said.

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